Toph
"I love fighting. I love being an earthbender, and I'm really, really goot at it." ' Toph Beifong' was an earthbending master and one of the most powerful earthbenders of her time. Blind since birth, Toph was constantly treated condescendingly because of her disability and stature, especially by her overprotective parents. Upon discovering badgermoles, earthbending animals who were also blind, she learned how to use earthbending as an extension of her senses. This gave her the ability to "see" through every tiny vibration that passes through the ground. History Personolaty When first introduced, Toph brought a totally new personality to the group. Unlike the nurturing Katara, flighty Aang, or gruff but goofy Sokka, Toph was fiercely independent, sarcastic, direct, stubborn, and confrontational. She appeared to have the same carefree and adventurous personality as Aang and she was very tomboyish in the way she acted and dressed, in contrast to the delicate doll her parents saw her as. However, unlike Aang, who avoided fighting whenever possible, Toph loved battling and took great pride in her earthbending skills. She appeared eager to prove that she was as strong as anyone who could see and once claimed that she was "the greatest earthbender in the world". Abilities EARTHBENDING Toph's proclamation of being the most powerful earthbender in the world is strongly supported by her talented displays of earthbending. Although blind, Toph's training in earthbending under the original earthbenders, the badgermoles, allowed her to use their unique ability of seismic sense: she used earthbending to "feel" even the most minute vibrations in the earth, including the march of ants several meters away and the presence of trees and buildings. Through this heightened seismic sense, Toph could visualize where people were, their relative distance to her, and their physical build, but was unable to visualize faces. This sense provided her with a distinct advantage when facing other earthbenders in combat, because she could predict attacks as they began and quickly react. Her knowledge of the art also allowed her to teach it to others like Aang, and later her daughter, Lin. Her speed and agility were also greatly beneficial in combat. SANDBENDING Because sand is loose and ultimately always changing with the winds of the desert, Toph found it hard to navigate through and control. To compensate somewhat, she could condense the sand together to give her a better footing. However, when she tried to attack one of the sandbenders with a small wave of sand during their ambush of her and Appa, she missed, her lack of precision on the sand aggravated by her hurry to save both Appa and the others. METALBENDING Toph created the ability to bend metal in the spring of 100 ASC. Metal is derived from ore, which is found in the earth. Guru Pathik explained to Aang that "metal is just a part of earth that has been purified and refined". Because of Toph's ability to feel the vibrations in earth, she was able to locate the impurities (the small fragments of earth) still found in most metals and manipulate them to "bend" the metal portion. By acquiring these metalbending abilities, Toph had shown herself to be one of the most powerful and ingenious earthbenders in the world, being the only known earthbender to ever bend metal during the Hundred Year War, a feat that even the Avatar was unable to perform since the origin of earthbending. Category:Characters